re: Class of 2018 Recruiting MEGATHREAD: So Long Old Friend Edition

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Ouachita Parish head coach Jeff Fitzgerald couldn’t fight back the tears following a 14-13 loss to West Monroe High School Thursday night. The game meant that much to him after watching his Lions take it to the No. 1 team in the state for the better part of four quarters.

“Y’all hold your heads up, man,” Ouachita Parish senior wide receiver said to a huddled up Lions squad. “Don’t hang your head. We’re better than this.”

Fitzgerald gave the huddle to his senior, paused and reflected.

“He’s everything that I coach for,” Fitzgerald said. “He’s everything that I talk to these guys about. Man, it doesn’t get much better than that when your seniors take control and get you headed in the right direction.”

West Monroe now has a 23-game win streak against the Ouachita Parish Lions, but Thursday night’s victory at Don Shows Field at Rebel Stadium was in doubt deep into the final quarter.

The Rebels faced a third-and-10 at midfield with less than three minutes to play, clinging to a one-point lead they gained earlier in the quarter. The Rebels called on its veteran quarterback Slade Bolden, who took a few extra seconds to get up on the sideline just one play before.

“Suck it up,” an assistant coach hollered. “You want to be the man. Go out and be the man.”

After a deep breath, Bolden took the snap, made a cut past a defender, hit a burst and stiff-armed a Lion defender to gain a first down.

Very next play, Bolden ran the very same quarterback power for another first down. Inching closer and closer to the goal line as the clock ticked down, West Monroe running back Cam Wright received the handoff and broke away from a few defenders to get to the Lions 19-yard line for another first down.

Two plays later, West Monroe faced a third-and-12 with 1:08 on the clock. Ouachita was out of timeouts and Wright rushed straight up the gut to the 9-yard line. What looked to be an initial first down was ruled fourth and a literal inch. Thirty-six seconds and an inch stood between West Monroe and victory, and the Rebels once again called on No. 10. Bolden rushed for six yards to seal a thrilling 14-13 comeback win.

“I had to find the bottomless pit,” Bolden said. “It was tough, but we all had to. We all were beat, but ain’t nothing better than leaving it all on the field.”

Before West Monroe took over the fourth quarter, the game was mostly controlled by the Lions. The first half certainly belonged to Ouachita Parish, as the Lions allowed a 78-yard touchdown run to Wright and little to nothing else. The Rebels had 106 first half rushing yards and no passing yards.

Meanwhile, Ouachita Parish quarterback Jabari Johnson had 78 passing yards and 42 rushing yards. He put the Lions on the board first in the opening quarter with a run-pass option read on fourth down to find red-hot wide receiver Josh Newton in the end zone. The play went 27 yards.

West Monroe tied it in the second quarter with Wright’s long run, but Ouachita Parish regained the lead when a 35-yard pass to Newton set up a five-yard run by Johnson, who muscled a defender into the end zone.

“They played straight from the heart, and that’s all I can ask from them is to give their best,” Fitzgerald said. “Man, they laid it on the line tonight.”

After a missed PAT, the Lions led 13-7 at halftime, but West Monroe head coach Jerry Arledge and his team didn’t panic.

“The bad, we’re behind, but the good is we have another half to make it up,” Arledge said. “The way our kids battled, that’s what you want your kids to do against a good team like Ouachita Parish is.”

The Rebels came out in the second half and didn’t allow Ouachita to finish drives. West Monroe switched up its look defensively, which led to a shutout. By the end of the game, West Monroe had nullified Ouachita’s offense to just 220 total yards.

“We went to a five-man front,” West Monroe senior linebacker John Bailey Gullatt said. “I can’t tell you what it means to me. This was probably my favorite win since I’ve been here.”

In order to get that win, West Monroe needed just one big offensive play at the beginning of the fourth quarter. The final quarter began with Bolden faking a handoff to Wright and throwing back to a wide-open Brandon Warren, who raced down the sideline untouched for a 64-yard touchdown. Reece Aultman made the point after to break the tie.

Johnson finished the game with 55 rushing yards and 81 passing yards, accounting for both of Ouachita Parish’s touchdowns. Newton led the team in receiving with 69 yards and Dylan Roberts led the team in rushing with 79 yards.

Wright led the Rebels with 135 yards on 10 carries, while Bolden rushed for 114 yards on 30 carries. Bolden completed just 1-of-8, but that one completion was the difference in the nail-biter at Don Shows Field.

“I’m frustrated because of the way it ended,” Fitzgerald said. “But there ain’t no quit in the Lions.”

We didn't lose him, he was never coming to Bama. I think he's on a visit to Clemson but i don't think he committed to them.

He’s going to be a great one. But OL isn’t a concern with what’s on the roster or in this 2018 class for Alabama. Or 2019 for that matter.

The in-State class for 2019 is loaded. That’s why it’s brought up. Alabama has several #1 classes because we could add 6-10 in-state studs with our regional and national haul. The 2018 class lacks a lot in the state of Alabama.

For those who remain optimistic about our class, other than the typical “Saban has a plan” mantra, what is your reason for optimism?

Who do you see committing?
Where do you think we will end up in the final recruiting rankings?

Right now it’s the 4th quarter and we are down by 24 points. Sure, it’s possible to salvage the game, but it’s also just as likely that the same things that have plagued us thus far will continue.

My prediction for class rank is 15 fwiw.

Who sabotaged your screen name? What has happened to you? Snap out of it!

Nobody will take somebody who says the class rank as 15 seriously, and will assume you're trolling. Nobody who follows recruiting as much as you honestly believes that.

Why even say that? Are our own "fans" wanting to/trying to create more negative momentum to what they perceive as a class where we're "struggling"? This stuff baffles me.

4th quarter? It is the end of October FFS.

I know we aren't getting a #1 class but man we be damn sure it won't be near #15 either.

I'm not even saying we don't need changes to help us with recruiting in the future... I just feel some of you are beyond spoiled.

Whatever man. Pretty much shows all some of you care about is rankings.

Bye week blues. I would say some on here need to back off the ledge but maybe some of you should just go ahead and take that step.

I have yet to worry about our recruiting under this staff and even if so will not until after NSD.

quote:

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Are there any recruits we’re likely to pull from the UT, UF, or A&M dumpster fires?

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ATM - Bobby Brown